USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 91
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Rouse, born May 17, 1894; Antoinette Louise, born April 30, 1897. vi. . Charlotte Elizabeth, born August 28, 1852. vii. Cynthia Ann, born June 18, 1854. Mr. Bushnell married (second) Adelaide Louise Burgess, born De- cember 28, 1818, and they had a son, Arthur Burgess, born March 8, 1857, died January 9, 1865. 4. Harry Lord, born July 9, 1816, died September 23, 1882; married Harriet Wilcox; children: Julia, Eliza and Harriet, all married. Children of Nathan and Chloe Bushnell: 5. Mary Judson, born September 25, 1822, died 1892. 6. Nathan Townsend, born January 18, 1825, died February 23, 1905; children: i. Frances Grace, died April 25, 1900; ii. Jane Finch. 7. Samuel, died young. 8. Cornelius Scranton, born July 19, 1828; see forward.
(VIII) Cornelius Scranton Bushnell, son of Nathan Bushnell (7) was born in Madison, Connecticut, July 19, 1828, died in New York City, May 6, 1896. His boyhood was spent in his native town, where opportunities were few but work plentiful on his father's farm and in his quarry. In winter he attended the vil- lage school, making good use of his advan- tages. At the age of fifteen he began his life career-work in earnest. Starting out on a coasting vessel he became in less than a year master of a sixty-ton schooner, and by great effort and economy succeeded in saving dur- ing the next five years the sum of $2,700, and invested it in a house in New Haven, Con- necticut, where he made his home henceforth. When he was of age he entered into a part- nership with his brother, Nathan Townsend Bushnell, in the wholesale and retail grocery business, establishing what became and con- tinues to be the largest concern in this line in the state. Early in 1858 he became interested in the New Haven & New London Railroad Company, which at that time was greatly em- barrassed for want of funds. It had become evident that the running of trains must be abandoned unless a larger earning capacity could be secured, and the only way to save the road was to extend it to Stonington. He was chosen president, and set out to procure the funds for this extension. He used his own credit freely, and enlisted the aid of enterpris- ing financiers, and in 1860 trains began to run through to New York. Great difficulty was met in the opposition of the New York & New Haven railroad, and its refusal to sell through tickets or to check baggage over the New Haven & New London road owing to a previous contract with the Hartford road. Mr. Bushnell had recourse to the legislature, then in session at Hartford, and with the aid
O. S. Bushnell
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of Charles R. Ingersoll, representative from New Haven at that time, later governor of the state, he secured the passage of a bill compelling the New York & New Haven railroad to afford the New Haven & New London, or "Shore Line" railroad equal fa- cilities with those granted to any other line. The bill was stoutly opposed by the opposi- tion railroad interests, and was not obeyed until the supreme court of the state issued a mandatory order after long litigation. Mr. Bushnell's next effort was for the recognition of the post office authorities, and a long and exciting struggle (incredible as it seems a generation later) was necessary before mails were sent over this important artery of trav- el. In this contest he had to spend much time at Washington, and be became well ac- quainted with the heads of various depart- ments. The Civil War was seen to be in- evitable. Washington was full of disloyal conspirators, and the federal government was without security or defense. When Fort Sumter was bombarded, Mr. Bushnell was in the capital, and with other loyal residents en- listed in the Washington Clay Battalion for the purpose of guarding the public buildings and residences of officials until troops ar- rived. He performed service from April 13, to May 4, 1861, being mustered in April 18, and discharged and mustered out May 4. His discharge paper bears the signatures of Pres- ident Lincoln, and of Simon Cameron, Secre- tary of War, with an expression of the thanks of the government for services rendered at that critical time. This service made Mr. Bushnell eligible to the Grand Army of the Republic, and he joined Admiral Foote Post, No. 17, Department of Connecticut, June 5, 1886, and he was buried with Grand Army honors.
He was one of the organizers of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, and a potent fac- tor in pushing to completion this great enter- prise, and was the only one of the original or- ganizers who remained with the road from its inception to the beginning of operations and running of trains.
Before the Civil War actually began, Mr. Bushnell had been impressed with the need of better naval forces. He seems to have been providentially selected to give the Union most timely and almost dramatic assistance. He foresaw the necessity of armored vessels and the need of supplying the navy with a stronger type of vessel in the war. He es- tablished a shipyard at Fair Haven, Connec- ticut, and built many steam vessels and other
craft for the government, under the superin- tendency of S. H. Pook, a naval constructor of Boston. With the assistance of Mr. Pook, he developed the plans for the ironclad war vessel "Galena," for which he received a con- tract from the government under the provi- sions of a law secured by the Hon. James E. English, Representative in Congress from the New Haven district, authorizing the Secre- tary of Navy to appoint three naval experts to examine all plans for iron vessels and adopt whatever might be approved. But many naval officers doubted the stability of the "Galena" under the weight of armor pro- posed, and it was while Mr. Bushnell was con- sulting mechanical engineers as to the proba- ble stability of the "Galena" that the most momentous incident in Mr. Bushnell's life oc- curred-his meeting with Captain John Erics- son, of New York, the inventor of the "Mon- itor." Not only was this meeting a most for- tunate event for the United States, but it marked a step in the change from wooden to iron and steel war vessels. Mr. Bushnell thus describes his historic interviews with Erics- son: "C. H. Delamater, of New York, ad- vised me to consult with the engineer, Cap- tain John Ericsson, on the matter (the stabil- ity of the "Galena"). This I proceeded at once to do, and on supplying him with the data necessary for his calculations promptly gained the answer: 'She will easily carry the load you propose, and stand a ix-inch shot if fired from a respectable distance.' At the close of this interview, Captain Ericsson asked if I had time just then to examine the plan of a floating battery absolutely impreg- nable to the heaviest shot or shell. I replied that this problem had been occupying me for the last three months, and that, considering the time required for the construction, the "Galena" was the best result I had been able to obtain. He then placed before me the plan of the "Monitor," explaining how quickly and powerfully she could be built, and exhibiting with characteristic pride a medal and letter of thanks received from Napoleon III. For it appears that Ericsson had invented the bat- tery when France and Russia were at war, and out of hostility to Russia had presented it to France, hoping thereby to aid the defeat of Sweden's hereditary foe. The invention, however, came too late to be of service, and was preserved for another issue."
Mr. Bushnell was entrusted with the plans. with which he was delighted ; and he followed the Secretary of the Navy, Hon. Gideon Welles, to Hartford, to whom he explained the
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possibilities of the invention. The secretary advised Mr. Bushnell to present the plans im- mediately to the naval board, and he went to Washington, after securing the cooperation of Hon. John A. Griswold, of New York, and John F. Winslow, of Troy, both friends of Governor Seward, and large manufacturers of iron plates. Governor Seward furnished them with a strong letter of introduction to Presi- dent Lincoln, who was at once greatly pleased with the simplicity of the plans and agreed to accompany Mr. Bushnell to the Navy Depart- ment at II A. M. next day, and aid as best he could the adoption of the invention. "He was on hand promptly," writes Mr. Bushnell in his letter to Secretary Welles. "Captain Fox, to- gether with part of the Naval Board, were present. All were surprised at the novelty of the plan. Some advised trying it, others ridi- culed it. The conference was finally closed for that day by Mr. Lincoln's remarking: 'All I have to say is what the girl said when she put her foot into the stocking, it strikes me there's something in it.' The following day Admiral Smith convened the full Board, when I pre- sented as best I could the plan and its merits, carefully noting the remarks of each member of the Board. I then went to my hotel quite sanguine of success, but only to be disappoint- ed the following day. For during the hours following the last session, I found that the air had been thick with croakings that the De- partment was about to father another Ericsson failure. Never was I more active than now in the effort to prove that Ericsson had never made a failure, that on the contrary he had built for the government the first steam war propellor ever made; that the bursting of the gun was no fault of his, but of the shell. * I succeeded at length in getting Admirals Smith and Paulding to promise to sign a re- port advising the building of one trial battery, provided Captain Davis would join them. On going to him I was informed that I 'might take the little thing home and worship it, as it would not be idolatry, because it was made in the image of nothing in the heaven above, or the earth below, or in the waters under the earth.' One thing yet remained which it was possible to do. This was to get Ericsson to come to Washington and plead the case him- self." Mr. Bushnell returned to New York, and made use of some clever diplomacy to in- duce Ericsson to go to Washington, for the reason that Ericsson believed himself so un- justly treated in the Princeton affair that he had repeatedly declared that he would never
set foot in Washington again. Mr. Bushnell told Ericsson that Admiral Smith said it was "worthy of the genius of an Ericsson" (how' well history justified his judgment !) and that Paulding said it was just the thing to clear the "Rebs" out of Charlestown, but that Cap- tain Davis wanted two or three explanations in detail which Mr. Bushnell could not give, and so Secretary Welles proposed that he should get Ericsson to come to Washington to explain to the entire board in his room next day. Ericsson went. "You remember," wrote Mr. Bushnell to Secretary Welles, "how he thrilled every person present in your room with his vivid description of what the little boat would be and what she could do; that in ninety days time she could be built, although the Rebels had already been four months at work on the "Merrimac," with all the appli- ances of the Norfolk Navy Yard to help them !" The Board unanimously recommend- ed the contract, and immediately (on the next day) most of the material for construction was bought. After the work of construction had begun, and before the formal contract was signed, a great clamor arose against the trial of an Ericsson experiment, so that when the contract was made the inventor and his asso- ciates had to give a bond to refund the money advanced during. construction in case of fail- ure. As one of the sureties to the government for the satisfactory performance of the "Moni- tor," with Hon. N. D. Sperry and Daniel Drew, Mr. Bushnell risked all his property on Ericsson's untried invention. Secretary Welles wrote to Mr. Bushnell: "Next after Ericsson himself, you are entitled to the credit of bring- ing his invention to the knowledge of the De- partment." What the "Monitor" built by Mr. Bushnell and his associates did for the Union, is one of the best known chapters of the Civil War.
Mr. J. Rice Winchell, in his memorial to Bushnell, wrote: "Had it not been for Mr. Bushnell's intuitive and instant perception of the masterful completeness of Ericsson's draw- ings of the vessel ; had he wavered a moment in doubt, or had he been for an instant influ- enced by the selfish and sordid thought that his. interests in the "Galena" might be jeopardized by his advocacy of the merits of the "Moni- tor," all would have been lost-there would have been no "Monitor," there would have been no consummate flower of triumph at Hampton Roads-there would have been no. Ericsson honored and sung by every civilized nation. Also, there might have been no mag-
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nificent Union stretching from shore to shore, under one starry flag, over all from the lakes to the gulf."
It should be borne in mind, too, that the "Monitor" was still the property of its builders when she defeated the "Merrimac." A quar- ter interest each was owned by Mr. Bushnell, Captain Ericsson, Mr. Griswold and Mr. Win- slow. Afterward eight more monitor batteries were constructed by C. S. Bushnell & Co., among them the "Puritan" and "Dictator," either of which at that time could have con- tended successfully with the navy of any other nation in the world.
Mr. Bushnell's contracts for these vessels brought him often to Washington, and into contact with many public men. Senator Dixon, of Hartford, placed his name in the original Pacific Railroad bill as one of the incorpora- tors, and from that time forward this enter- prise commanded his closest attention. He attended the meeting for organization at Chi- cago, in 1863, and was appointed on the com- mittee to secure subscriptions to the stock, two millions being required and twenty per cent. paid in before the company could begin business. Of this two millions Mr. Bushnell secured more than three-quarters and was him- self the largest subscriber to the capital stock. He was also largely instrumental in securing the amendment of 1864, without which it would have been impossible to finish the road. He was also the only corporator who remained until the road was completed and successful, and then, unfortunately, to embark in the con- struction of what became the eastern end of the Southern Pacific. Owing to the great fi- nancial depression of 1873, and the repudia- tion of the bonds by the state of Louisiana, the company from which Mr. Bushnell was to have received millions of dollars on contracts failed, and so embarrassed him that he was compelled to suspend, losing thus the large fortune which he had spent twenty years in accumulating. Overwork and anxiety pros- trated him, and for some years his health was far from good. During 1864 he purchased an extensive iron property called Iron Ridge, in Wisconsin, and erected a blast furnace, using charcoal as fuel, making pig iron at a lower price per ton than at any other furnace in the country. This property he sold to Byron Kil- burn's Rolling Mill Company for a large profit on the original cost. He also, with associates, purchased a large lead and silver mine in Utah, which was afterwards sold to English capital- ists for more than three hundred thousand dollars profit. In 1871-72 he erected the Ma-
sonic Temple at New Haven, at a cost of more than $200,000. In 1865-70 he built the horse railroad over the Cincinnati and Covington, Kentucy, great wire bridge, extending for sev- eral miles into the latter city.
"He was an extraordinary man, a typical example of American pertinacity and versatile ability. Larger in stature and physical devel- opment than ordinary men, he excelled them also in activity and the power of comprehend- ing great things." His youth was such as to develop an inherited strong body, and the in- fluence of his home instilled into his mind the foundation of a sterling character.
Mr. Bushnell was a Republican in politics, and a Congregationalist in religion. He was a member of various organizations.
He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, New Haven, Connecticut, and a fitting memorial monument was dedicated to his memory on May 30, 1906, in New Haven, at the corner of Derby Avenue and Chapel Street. The state of Connecticut contributed the sum of five thousand dollars. More than that sum was raised by popular subscription. The monument was designed by Herbert Adams, and Charles M. Platt, landscape architect, designed the pedestal. The monument is of granite, artis- tic and substantial, suitably engraved, and sur- mounted with a beautiful bronze piece repre- senting the American eagle in militant pose, with wings uplifted.
Mr. Bushnell married first, July 19, 1849, Emily Fowler Clark, born at New Haven, 1829, died January 10, 1869, aged thirty-nine years, two months, and sixteen days, daughter of Samuel and Emily (Fowler) Clark, of New Haven, Connecticut. He married second, March 15, 1870, Mrs. Caroline Mary (Pad- dock) Hughston, widow of Hon. J. A. Hugh- ston. She was born in 1835, and died July 4, 1887, daughter of Hon. Joseph W. Paddock, of New York, lawyer and member of Con- gress, and consul to China. Her mother was Mary (Welles) Paddock. By her first mar- riage she had one son and two daughters, one of whom, Annie, is dead, and the other is the wife of Cornelius Judson Bushnell, son of Cornelius Scranton Bushnell. He married third, June 25, 1889, Mrs. Elizabeth Ford, widow, who survived him. His children were all by his first wife: I. Sereno Scranton, born August 12, 1850, married, October 20, 1875, Margaret Livingstone Crofts, of Linlithgo, New York; chil- dren: i. Charlotte Livingstone, born Au- gust 2, 1876, married April 2, 1902, John Pot- ter Love, of Grafton, West Virginia ; children :
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Gilbert Watson Love, born June 30, 1903, and John Bushnell Love, born February 6, 1905. ii. Robert Livingstone, born January 25, 1881. 2. Samuel Clark, born March 8, 1852; men- tioned below. 3. Charlotte Beecher, born Au- gust 25, 1853 ; married April 9, 1884, Gilbert L. Watson, of Olean, New York; children : i. Cornelius Bushnell Watson, born June 4, 1887; ii. Emily Winthrop Watson, born May 3, 1889, died February 22, 1898. 4. Corne- lius Judson, born September 20, 1855; mar- ried September 20, 1876, Katherine Wells Hughston, of New Haven, Connecticut; chil- dren: i. Cornelius Huntington, born June 6, 1880; ii. Katherine Wells, born November 21, 1883. 5. Nathan, born July 22, 1857; married May 18, 1881, Wilhelmina Merrill, of Dorchester, Massachusetts;
children : 1. Mary Rosalia, born January 13, 1883, mar- ried June 12, 1907, Robert Maxwell Ingham; ii. Nathan Jr., born December 21, 1889; iii. John Merrill, born January 6, 1900. 6. Hen- ry Northrop, born March 15, 1857; died at Baldwinsville, New York, 1875. 7. Ericsson Foote, born December 10, 1862; married No- vember 10, 1897, Bertha Tudor Thompson, of New York City; children: i. Agnes, born August 4, 1898, died August 5, 1898; ii. Win- throp, born September 14, 1899; iii. Henry Thompson, born August 13, 1900; iv. Bertha Tudor, born September 12, 1902, died De- cember 25, 1904; v. Emilie, born October 28, 1905. 8. Winthrop Grant, born March 20, 1864; unmarried. 9. Edward William, born December 25, 1866; unmarried. IO. Levi Ives, born December 26, 1868, drowned in Long Island Sound, August 8, 1890.
(IX) Rev. Samuel Clarke Bushnell, son of Cornelius Scranton Bushnell, (8), was born at New Haven, Connecticut, March 8, 1852. He attended the public schools, Lee's Acad- emy at Madison, Connecticut, and the Hop- kins Grammar School in New Haven, where he graduated in 1870, entering Yale College the same year and graduating in 1874 with the degree of A. B. He studied for the min- istry in Yale Divinity School, where he re- ceived the degree of B. D. in 1877. After a year spent in traveling around the world, Mr. Bushnell began a pastorate in the First Con- gregational Church of New Bedford, Massa- chusetts, in December, 1878, and continued for a period of eleven years. This church was founded in 1696. He resigned to accept a call from his present church, the Orthodox Congregational Church of Arlington, Massa- chusetts, where since February 1, 1890, he has enjoyed a very successful and happy pas-
torate. He is an active member of the Yale Alumni Association, and is a member and for three years was president of the Yale Club of Boston. In politics he is a Republican. For a number of years he has been chairman of the board of trustees of the Robbins Library of Arlington, and was a member of the Arl- ington school committee. He belongs to the Phi Upsilon and the Skull and Bones frater- nities of Yale. He is one of the first members of the Arlington Boat Club; member of the Arlington Golf Club; the Arlington Men's Club; the Congregational Club of Boston; the Fortnightly Club; secretary of the Win- throp Club; and one of the editors of the pub- lications of the Monday Club of Boston.
He married October 14, 1880, Mary Eliza- beth Kendall, who was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, August 12, 1855, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Beals) Kendall. Her father was a merchant in the West India trade with store on State street, Boston. Children: I. Alice Kendall, born March 20, 1887. 2. Samuel Kendall, born May 29, 1892.
Hinman gives as the coat-of-arms of the Bushnell family of Connecticut Argent, five fusils in fess gules in chief three milles sable. Crest: on a ducal coronet a wivern sans feet.
Between 1633 and 1644 there KENT came from England to New Eng- land three families bearing the surname Kent, who became the progenitors of three distinct lines whose descendants have contributed an honorable service toward the upbuilding of the moral, educational and po- litical history of the country.
In 1633 the "good shipp Mary and John" of London had as passengers Richard Kent, Senior, and Richard Kent, Junior, supposed to have been cousins. They settled at New- bury, Massachusetts, where they were joined in 1634 by James Kent, a brother of Richard Jr. In 1635 Stephen Kent, a brother of Rich- ard Kent Sr., joined them. He evidently re- turned to England, as his name appears with that of his wife Margery on the list of pas- sengers of the ship "Confidence," in 1638. He remained in Newbury until 1646, when he re- moved to Haverhill, and in 1665 settled in Woodbridge, New Jersey. The descendants of these Kents are known as the Newbury line.
Thomas Kent, born in England, emigrated with his wife prior to 1643, and was one of the proprietors of Gloucester, where he settled. His son Samuel, removed to Brookfield,
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Massachusetts, and on the destruction of that town by the Indians in 1676 went to Suffield, Connecticut, where he died February 2, 1690- I. The Kent Memorial Library stands on the site of the log cabin which he built upon his arrival at Suffield. To this Gloucester line be- longs James (6) Kent, Chancellor of New York, and author of "Kent's Commentaries on American Law." He was born at Fred- ericksburg, New York, July 31, 1763. His ancestry was: Moss (5); Elisha (4); John (3); Samuel (2); Thomas (I).
Under date of May 2, 1643, the town rec- ords of Dedham, Massachusetts, state that "Joshuah Kent is admitted Townsman & hath libertie to purchase Edward Culuers Lott." The records of the First Church of Dedham state that "Joshua Kent went for England with our testimoniall but to returne againe IIm 1644, and he returned 1645," "and ye said Jushuah Kent having brought ov'r 2 of his brothers & placed them in ye country, yet with his wife returned to England 1om 1647."
"And ye said Joshuah Kent upon ye trobles arising againe in England & wares ther 1648 he returned wth his wife againe about ye 8m yt year." His brothers were named John and Joseph, and these three brothers were the founders of the Kent line. Joshua was prom- inent in town and church; died without male issue; Joseph was of Dedham in 1659, of Block Island 1664, of Swansea, Massachu- setts, 1673, and died there 1704, leaving four sons and one daughter.
The English ancestry of the Dedham line has not been traced and it is not proved that they were related to the Newbury and Glou- cester pioneers.
(I) John Kent, the immigrant ancestor of this line, was not a son of Richard Kent, Sr., of Newbury, as stated in the Kent Genealogy. This is an error, as amply proved by re- searches of Daniel Kent, register of deeds, Worcester, Massachusetts. The will of Eliz- abeth Harder, of Braintree, dated June I, 1664, mentions as legatees John and Joseph Kent and three daughters of Joshua Kent. John Kent was admitted to the Dedham church July 16, 1652, and admitted freeman May 3, 1654. His name appears on a tax list dated August 29, 1653, and he continued to be taxed at Dedham until November 22, 1664. He was one of the signers to a petition to the general court May 7, 1662; was elected one of the fence viewers for the West Field, February 24, 1664-5. He removed to Charlestown, Massachusetts, and was re- ceived in the church there by letter from the
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